What MUSIC are you listening to? ARCHIVE

JonJacob wrote:

Michael Barnes wrote:

Yeah, I'm one of those people that like PIL better than the Sex Pistols.

Me too. I always found they're music more interesting (the actual music that is). He hired some intersting musicians occasionally and I think that John Lydon can be a pretty awesome front man. Very entertaining, especially in interviews.

I like the so called proto-punk (Stooges, MC5, Buzzcocks, Television) and post-punk (Gang of Four, Wire, Magazine, Joy Division), but I don't really like punk itself (Sex Pistols, Dead Kennedys, Circle Jerks, Minor Threat) except for the Damned.

Michael Barnes wrote:

I dragged out the records after seeing that they were on this year's Coachella lineup, which is FUCKING INSANE. [...] Echo and the Bunnymen, Gary Numan, the Specials, De La Soul

Are these all still as good as they were 20 years ago? I doubt it.

Thanks for bringing this thread back to my attention.

Last weekend I hit the Polysics show. I've got a friend back in 'Bama who is a huge fan so I had to score him some swag. Skipped the Frank Turner show for this.

The week before that I caught one of my favorite folk artists, Michael Fracasso:


Looks like the Dropkick Murphys will be in town in a few weeks. For me, they're one of those bands you saw a million times, so stopped going to their shows only to look up and realize nearly 10 years has gone by since you last saw them. Haven't decided if I'm going.

I do plan on catching the upcoming Assemblage 23 show. Never was a huge fan of industrial, but a co-worker has turned me on to him.

A group of us plan on hitting the FinnTroll show in April. The vocals are a bit rougher than I prefer, but should be a good show.


So, ya my listening has been all over the place lately. A lot of it has to do with me going out with more than the usual crew. Going to some things I may not have in the past.

I saw Gary Numan in 1994. Granted, that was 16 years ago (holy shit), but it was one of the best shows I've ever seen. He actually wrote about that particular show in his autobiography and said it was the best live date he'd ever had. It was fucking incredible, he played a near-perfect setlist that was all Tubeway Army stuff, select cuts from "Pleasure Principle" and "Telekon", and then a couple of cuts from his then-current album (which wasn't bad at all).

I've seen Echo and the Bunnymen a couple of times in the past decade, they're still viable. Ian is still an arrogant prick. The last time I saw them, before "Ocean Rain" he said "This is the greatest song ever written".

I hear what you're saying though, all these old bands make it seem like an oldies revue...but I'll say this. Two of the most vicious, bracing, and energetic live acts I've ever seen were Gang of Four in 2005 and Killing Joke in 2008. Not "past their prime" at all. Hell, Iggy Pop is like 60 and he still brings the goods, takes his shirt off, and jumps out onto the crowd.

I've been listening to symphonic metal lately. I just find the light/dark, beauty/beast style of it to be interesting musically.

I've been mostly listening to my IPod lately which means that I have no idea what the next song is. My musical tastes have a pretty nice range...Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones, the Kinks, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, the Residents, They Might Be Giants, the Police/Sting, No Doubt, Frank Zappa, various classical musicians, Billy Joel, Elton John. Basically, if I like it, I like it. I'm not going to completely rule out a style of music. My CD collection represents that and since my IPod is my CD collection it represents that as well.

Assemblage 23? Get outta here! They're still around? Wow.

I can't think of any music _less_ relevant than 1990s "industrial"...Chemlab, Sister Machine Gun, Leather Strip, Wumpscut, all of that stuff...that's a genre that just completely died as far as I'm concerned. But hey, if they're still bringing the rivetheads and chubby goth chicks into the shows, more power to 'em.

Finntroll would be a fun show.

PiL were great up to a point. By the time I got to see them ('87?) they were shit though. Really one of the worst shows I ever saw. There was no edge left and it was just paste. I was pretty disappointed but there was no way I would've missed it. One of my buddies got too drunk and was being an idiot and puked all over his seat. Fucking dumbass got kicked out and being persistant managed to somehow boldly bum-rush through security in venue merely to get caught and kicked out again. Seeing him dragged out in a choke hold was so hilarious. SO I wound up getting his 3rd row seat which was a bonus.

Anyway, they were past their prime even back then. Well, Johnny was fine but everything else was bad. The guitar sound they were using did NOT mesh with the few (good) early-career songs they performed. And the new songs... fuck, it just sucked.

De La Soul were kinda spotty but I managed to see them a few times. For some reason they felt they had to "hype it up" by screaming the lyrics and shit. Baffling. Because De La obviously weren't a "screamin and shit" type group. But one show they did was just magnificent, so... I think they had a live band that time(?). Dang, I haven't listened to them in years. They were fucking cool though, I would see them again.

Michael Barnes wrote:

Assemblage 23? Get outta here! They're still around? Wow.

I can't think of any music _less_ relevant than 1990s "industrial"...Chemlab, Sister Machine Gun, Leather Strip, Wumpscut, all of that stuff...that's a genre that just completely died as far as I'm concerned. But hey, if they're still bringing the rivetheads and chubby goth chicks into the shows, more power to 'em.

Finntroll would be a fun show.

Yeah, I was never a fan of industiral. It all reminds me of the Dragon*Con in the 90's, as that's the only place I'd ever hear it. And even then I can imagine they were pale imitators.

Like I said, I've got a co-worker who's a fan and she really wants to go. It's not half bad, why not? I does sound dated though.

Michael Barnes wrote:

I hear what you're saying though, all these old bands make it seem like an oldies revue...but I'll say this. Two of the most vicious, bracing, and energetic live acts I've ever seen were Gang of Four in 2005 and Killing Joke in 2008. Not "past their prime" at all. Hell, Iggy Pop is like 60 and he still brings the goods, takes his shirt off, and jumps out onto the crowd.

I agree with Gang of Four - best gig of 2008.

But Iggy Pop (for all the good he's done) fucking sucks. I read somewhere that on one of the many festivals he tours in the summers (as a second or third liner), the crowd was so alienated (not in the same way as in the early 70s) to what the old man was doing on stage that once he attempted a stage dive, nobody tried to catch him, so he fell into a gaping hole in the crowd and dislocated his shoulder. Ah screw that, maybe I'll go and see his Raw Power gig in May (with James Williamson replacing Ron Asheton and supported by Suicide).

Yeah...that Raw Power gig is RIDICULOUS. If I were over there, no way in hell would I miss it.

I saw Suicide a couple of years ago in a tiny club here in Atlanta. On stage it was just Alan Vega and Martin Rev and a keyboard (not the busted Farfisa though). Just like it should be. 90 minutes of throb. It was incredible.

The highlight though was during "Dream Baby Dream". I was right up front and everybody was singing along and Alan Vega handed me the mic. I couldn't believe it. At the end of the song I said "thanks so much for coming to Atlanta" and he said "thank you for being here for us" and he gave me a big hug.

I swear they played "Frankie Teardrop" for an hour.

Michael Barnes wrote:

Finntroll would be a fun show.

I saw them 2 years ago at Brutal Assault fest and didn't really liked it, I like pure black without any symphonic or folk addons. But the Immortal show at Brutal Assault last year was great - Three 40 yo guys with corpse paints having fun on the stage, breathing fire and showing that the music is their hobby, not just a job. Priceless.

Schweig - if you don't like Dead Kennedys, try Jello Biafra and Mojo Nixon - Prairie Home Invasion. Some hilarious country-punk stuff with unbelievable lyrics. "Will the fetus be aborted" would be a radio hit if it weren't for the lyrics.

real estate is my favourite band lately

New Burzum album Belus is out! I am now listening to it on youtube and so far it seems that good old Grishnack is back.

I'm going to see Ray Davies on Thursday. I can't wait as a longtime Kinks listener and enjoyer of the two solo albums he's done. I should have taken the chance to go see his free show a couple of years ago, as I heard it was pretty good. This one isn't free though.

New Burzum album Belus is out! I am now listening to it on youtube and so far it seems that good old Grishnack is back.

I have it too. I don't know, I like it but it does feel like a "comeback" record. It's great to hear him doing BM again- and old style BM at that- but it's lacking the power and atmosphere of his best work. There's nothing on it that holds a candle to "Hviss Lyset Tar Oss" or "Filosefem". There's also not the "kid in a bedroom with a 4-track" rawness, nothing on the level of "Lost Wisdom". In all, it's definitely not bad- some of it strangely tame though.

Strangely, proceeds from the record are going to help Haiti. Didn't see that coming!

I also have the new Darkthrone record. It's a fucking blast. Those guys are awesome. Talk about old school BM, it's like Bathory/Mercyful Fate/Venom style BM. Lots of crust punk influence though, some of it sounds an awful lot like Broken Bones. They're totally in on the joke...song titles rock- "I Am the Graves of the 80s", "I Am the Working Class", "These Treasures Will Never Befall You"...that last one, I _swear_ is about DUNGEONQUEST. It's hard to believe this is the band that pretty much created dissonant ambient BM with "Transilvanian Hunger"...I like their old stuff, but their new stuff is actually more ballsy. Check out their Siouxsie and the Banshees cover..."Love in a Void".

Listening to those two sent me off on an old metal thing...so I broke out the Bathory records. "Blood Fire Death" and "Hammerheart" are two of the greatest metal records ever recorded. Mercyful Fate's "Melissa", holy shit. The first couple of Sodom records...Kreator...and of course, Celtic Frost.

My other recent listening has been NWA- fucking _incredible_ stuff, still to this day. I'm listening to it on Pandora so I get all this awful crap like Tupac and Biggie Smalls in there too...and the solo stuff...but man, when something from "Straight Outta Compton" or "NWA and the Posse" come on...it's like a fucking bomb going off.

I really want to hear the new These New Puritans record, I've heard rave reviews and since they already sounded like The Fall to begin with...